To Surreal with love

'In the early eighties we were into ideas and social issues rather than images, so we weren't in vogue while everyone was going postmodern," says Ridge Theater actress Ann Shea. But, ironically, the company, which specialized in political satire, was acclaimed for giving PoMo a good name when it strayed with Jack Benny!, a surreal opera composed by Philip Glass protege John Moran. Now Ridge makes its Lincoln Center Serious Fun! festival debut with its second Moran collaboration, The Manson Family: Helter Five-O, the saga of McGarrett and Danno on the trail of a band of drugged-out hippies. "It's like classical Greek theater," says Ridge artistic director Bob McGrath. "Everyone's familiar with the story, but we're doing it from the family's perspective."

LAURIE PIKE